California will move into Stage 2 of the state’s reopening plan by the end of this week, Governor Gavin Newsom announced during a press conference Monday.
“On Friday I said we were days not weeks from announcing modifications to the stay-at-home order, and today we are announcing our efforts to update the stay-at-home guidelines and begin the process of moving to Stage 2,” he said.
The new guidelines for Stage 2 — which allow for the return of retail, manufacturing, and other “low-risk” businesses — will be released Thursday, and businesses can start reopening Friday if new physical-distancing measures are implemented.
“As early as by end of this week, you will have the capacity as retailer to begin to reopen for pickup: clothing, bookstores, music shops, sporting goods, florists as Mother’s Day approaches and other sectors within that retail sector,” Newsom said.
However, these activities are still prohibited under the Bay Area’s updated shelter-in-place order, and Newsom said the region “has the right” to enforce its stricter order that allows for the return of outdoor businesses and activities, but not retail.
“The Bay Area has guidelines that are a little more strict,” he said. “If they choose to not come into compliance, they have that right.”
In a Monday afternoon press conference, San Francisco Mayor London Breed acknowledged Governor Newsom’s announcement but said the city is currently focused on observing the social distancing success of outdoor businesses that have been allowed to reopen to inform whether San Francisco will take further steps to reopen.
“The health directive has everything to do with limiting our ability to be in contact with people so we can avoid not only transmitting the virus, but we also realize there are a number of people out there struggling financially,” Breed said. “If there is a way to accommodate the public health goal of keeping people safe while allowing businesses to operate but to operate differently with certain guidelines, we can definitely work together to achieve that goal and get to a better place.”
Breed added that San Francisco would be working with the governor towards a Phase 2 plan, and identifying retailers that could be open in collaboration with local health officers. Specifically, she mentioned that the city was looking at options for restaurants and gyms.
“Can we say definitively those businesses will be open Friday? No we can’t,” she said. “It’s important we rely on the facts, the data, that we rely on the advice of our county health officers so as we push to do these things, we do so responsibly. And we want to also give businesses time to know exactly what’s expected and to know what are the things they need to prepare for as they reopen.”
Newsom also stated that rural counties have the right to move “deeper” into Phase 2 and reopen restaurants, offices, shopping malls and other businesses if they meet criteria the state releases Thursday. The governor also stated there could be “unfortunate consequences” for businesses that reopen across the state without receiving approval, but did not elaborate on what those consequences might be.
Today, the Bay Area permitted outdoor businesses such as construction, landscaping and golf courses to reopen, but left retail off the list. The local order provides that if any provision comes into conflict with the state order, the stricter order will apply.
As local LGBTQIA+ community leaders, we are inviting you to participate in the #Out4MentalHealth Virtual Meeting, May 6th 6-8pm. The gathering was originally going to be a town hall to focus on long term strategies for connection and collaboration amongst all of the different LGBTQ groups, organizations, and causes in our county. While this is still an important conversation we’d like to have, we must also focus the conversation around immediate needs and resources to keep our community safe and healthy in the midst of COVID-19. Our hope is that this webinar will help to identify new strategies or shared resources to make sure our communities’ needs are met, while enjoying some virtual time and space with other friendly folks.
Please join us on Wednesday, May 6th from 6-8pm.
**Registration Required**
Link to register is here:
It is important to us that we have diverse and inclusive representation of our entire local community. We need your voice, perspective, and insight! Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns. Hope to see you there!
For Fabliha Anbar, 20, her LGBTQ identity is an important part of her social and academic life. She’s out to friends, on social media and at her progressive university, where she founded the South Asian Queer and Trans Collective. But last month, when her campus closed due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Anbar returned home — and back to the proverbial closet.
“Having to go home and act a certain way 24/7 is a means for survival,” said Anbar, who asked that the name of her university and hometown not be published. “That can be straining emotionally and extremely damaging.”
For the past six weeks, Anbar has been self-isolating in a small, two-bedroom house with her parents, whom she said she doesn’t feel safe coming out to.
Anbar’s situation is not unique. Since schools across the U.S. started to close in mid-March to help stem the spread of the coronavirus, LGBTQ advocates say a number of queer youth and young adults have lost crucial support systems and have been forced to self-isolate with unsupportive family members.
“They may have had to go back in the closet if they were out at school. If they had support from a GSA or an LGBTQ club or group at school, they don’t have that anymore,” said Ellen Kahn, senior director of programs and partnerships at the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ rights group.
Kahn said she’s particularly concerned about those “who are in overtly hostile environments,” saying, “It could put them at risk of physical or emotional abuse; it could force them out to the streets.”
‘Students might feel isolated’
Danushi Fernando, the director of LGBTQ and gender resources at Vassar College in New York, said a number of students with whom she works “voiced their concerns” about returning home when the campus announced it would close last month.
“We are super aware that there are people who are not able to go back to their homes because either they’re not safe, or students aren’t out to their families,” she said.
After discussing this situation with the university administration, Vassar opened up some dorms on a case-by-case basis to students who felt unsafe leaving.
But for some of those who did leave — thinking their departure would just be for an extended spring break — living back at their parents’ house has been uncomfortable or isolating.
“There are lots of times that students might feel isolated,” she said. “There are students who have reached out like, ‘Do you know of anyone in Idaho that I could connect with?’”
As for Anbar, she said she’s been hosting virtual programming and support groups over Zoom, joined by people from all over the world, for the South Asian Queer and Trans Collective. If she’s within earshot of her parents, she said she has to be careful.
“It does get kind of scary,” she said. “That’s why I make sure to be very careful about the words that I choose. I usually take advantage of the language barrier between me and my parents. I say things like ‘queer’ rather than ‘lesbian.’”
When speaking to her parents, she said she describes the South Asian Queer and Trans Collective, the organization she dedicates so much time to, as a “feminist collective,” which she said “isn’t entirely wrong.”
‘Stuck at home with abusers’
In the weeks following school closures, child abuse and neglect hotlines, like the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline, reported an inundation of calls and texts from young people newly confined to unsafe environments.
“A lot of these young people are stuck at home with abusers,” Daphne Young, the organization’s chief communications officer, said. “College kids are coming home from school and have to re-enter the home with perpetrators.”
Young said LGBTQ youth and adolescents have consistently been among their callers.
She also noted that the financial strain caused by the pandemic has the potential to make bad environments even worse.
“Whatever was the stressor or the discord between the family, you now have compound trauma,” Young said.
Like Childhelp, The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people, reported a steep increase in the number of youth and young adults who have reached out to its 24/7 hotline.
The New York-based nonprofit published a white paper last month outlining the “serious implications” the COVID-19 crisis could have on the mental health of LGBTQ youth. The organization cited the physical distancing, economic strain and increased anxiety related to the pandemic as being among the most worrisome problems.
“LGBTQ young people … are already at risk of discrimination and isolation, which can impact their mental health,” Amit Paley, the organization’s CEO, said last month in an interview with MSNBC. “For a lot of LGBTQ young people, the main sources of support that they get are at their schools, at clubs, at community centers, at physical spaces that they no longer have access to. … Not being able to connect with some of those really important, positive influences in your life can be extremely challenging for LGBTQ youth right now.”
‘An opportunity’ for parents
Two thirds of LGBTQ youth hear their families make negative comments about LGBTQ people, and only 1 in 4 feel like they can be themselves at home, according to data from the Human Rights Campaign.
“If you’re that kid, whether you’re 6 or 12 or 18, that changes dramatically how you feel in your own skin, how you can thrive or not in your family,” Kahn said.
A newly engaged couple, Stephanie Mayorga, 27, and Paige Escalera, 25, disappeared in mid-April under “suspicious” circumstances, the police in Wilmington, North Carolina, said Wednesday at a news conference.
Their roommate filed a missing persons report several days after the women were last seen on April 15.
Capt. Thomas Tillman said surveillance footage showed the couple leaving their Wilmington home and driving a gray 2013 Dodge Dart with two stickers on the back windshield and South Carolina plates.
Tillman described the disappearance as “suspicious” based on undisclosed information received in the past week.
He said detectives had spoken to family members, friends and coworkers of both missing women “in an attempt to gather information of where they might have gone and where they went missing.”
Tillman said the coronavirus pandemic is partly to blame for the more than two-week delay between the couple’s disappearance and the news conference.
“Life is not going on at the Wilmington Police Department as simply as it did before the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
In an interview with Oxygen, Stevie Jenkins, Escalera’s sister, said that Escalera and Mayorga had only recently met and had moved in together at the beginning of March.
Jenkins also said that close friends of her sister had been blocked from her social media over the last week or two. “It is normal for family to not hear from her, but not her closest friends,” Jenkins told Oxygen.
A YouTuber has been forced to flee the country of Russia after she invited a gay man to be in one of her videos, and subsequently being convicted of violating Russia’s “gay propaganda” law.
25-year-old Victoria Pich has been producing entertainment videos since 2013, according to Codastory, and over that time has gained almost two million YouTube subscribers.
Wanting to cover more serious topics, in 2019 she started a series titled “Real Talk”.
It was inspired by the American YouTube channel HiHo Kids and its “Kids Meet” series which shows children meeting different kinds of people – for example someone living with HIV, a divorce lawyer or an ex-gang member – to encourage them to ask questions and develop tolerance.
Pich told Codastory: “The American show inspired us. We decided to make a similar program, just one set in Russian realities.”
One episode she produced featured a gay man, 21-year-old graphic designer Maksim Pankratov, fielding questions from children.
Pich said she was proud of the video, which quickly attracted more than a million views, and was careful that sex was never mentioned.
She added: “What did we do? We just asked a person about his life.”
However, the “Real Talk” episode featuring Pankratov was where Pich’s problems began.
An organisation claiming to promote “family values” reported the video to Roskomnadzor, a federal service responsible for media censorship. Although the service ruled that the episode did not break any laws, homophobic Russian lawmaker Pyotr Tolstoy appealed the decision.
Tolstoy described Pich’s YouTube show as “ethically unacceptable and immoral”, and his appeal led to severe consequences.
A case was opened against Pich for violating the “gay propaganda” law in Russia. President Vladimir Putin and his government banned “gay propaganda” in 2013, prohibiting the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors” and meaning that sharing information about LGBT+ people’s lives can earn a prison sentence.
But this wasn’t all. The state prosecutor’s investigative committee also accused Pich of sexual violence against children and began investigating whether she had violated Article 132 of Russia’s criminal code. The law is most often used in cases of paedophilia and child pornography.
Although Pich removed the entire series, the media jumped on the story. The Russian YouTuber was questioned by the police, as were the parents and children involved in the “Real Talk” series.
She began to realise that authorities were not going to back down, and realised she had only one option. She booked a one-way ticket to America.
Now living in California, and only just beginning to learn English, Pich said: “If I knew about the consequences, I never would have done this.”
She said that she now has sleepless nights, and as much as she misses home, she is terrified of returning to Russia. She added: “The case can be closed and it could be reopened just as easily. That’s what can happen in Russia.”
Pankratov, the gay man featured in the video, was recognised in the street and attacked, before receiving death threats. He is now seeking asylum in Europe.
Brooklyn’s last remaining lesbian bar, Ginger’s, sits on a busy avenue that cuts through the borough’s gentrified Park Slope neighborhood. Over the past two decades, it has endured 9/11, the Great Recession and skyrocketing rent, but owner Sheila Frayne is unsure it will survive COVID-19.
“Realistically, I’m saying maybe this is the end,” Frayne, 53, told NBC News.
In compliance with citywide guidelines for nonessential businesses, Frayne locked the doors of Ginger’s on March 15, two days before St. Patrick’s Day and what would have been the bar’s 20th anniversary. Through the darkened windows, she peered at the shamrock decorations that still hung on the walls and started to cry.
“The bar business is recession proof — it’s not pandemic proof, though.”
HENRIETTA HUDSON OWNER LISA CANNISTRACI
“It’s really sad, because women-owned businesses are hard anyhow, and women-owned bars are unheard of,” Frayne said. “Usually, they have somebody backing them or something like that, but I did do it by myself, and it’s just blood, sweat and tears to get where I did and keep surviving.”
Ginger’s Bar is one of three lesbian bars still standing in New York City, and one of just a handful left in the entire country. With most, if not all, of these establishments forced to temporarily shutter due to the coronavirus pandemic, their future is uncertain, with several facing the potential of permanent closure.Last call for lesbian bars?
The number of lesbian bars in the United States has always been far fewer than those primarily catering to gay men, even though statistically women are more likely than men to identify as LGBTQ. The peak came in the late 1980s with an estimated 200 lesbian bars across the country, according to a study published last year by Greggor Mattson, an associate professor of sociology at Oberlin College, but the number is now estimated to be 16. These venues include Henrietta Hudson in New York City, My Sister’s Room in Atlanta, Wildrose in Seattle, Walker’s Pint in Milwaukee and Gossip Grill in San Diego.
The decline in the number of lesbian bars is part of a broader trend of LGBTQ bars shuttering across the U.S. Throughout the 1980s, there were more than 1,500 such bars, but that number has been steadily declining since the late ‘90s, with less than 1,000 existing today (with the lion’s share of them catering mostly to male or mixed-gender crowds), according to Mattson’s study. These closures, however, have not happened equally: Between 2007 and 2019, an estimated 37 percent of all LGBTQ bars shuttered, while bars catering to women and queer people of color saw declines of 52 percent and 60 percent, respectively, according to the report.
Mattson said even the closure of a single gay or lesbian bar can be a particularly acute loss for a community.
Since the gay liberation movement began in the 1960s, many of these bars have served as the nucleus of America’s “gayborhoods” — refuges where people could organize, raise funds, meet friends and find romance. Mattson said even the closure of a single LGBTQ bar can be a particularly acute loss for a community.
New York City has witnessed the country’s largest rise and fall in lesbian spaces — with about 200 opening and closing over the last century (including bars, cafes, bookstores, and community centers), according to Gwen Shockey, creator of the Addresses Project, a digital tool that tracks the city’s lesbian venues. Shockey said New York saw a wave of lesbian bar openings in the the ‘70s and ‘80s, likely bolstered by the surging feminist and LGBTQ rights movements of the time and the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974, which made it illegal for banks to deny loans on the basis of gender. This trend, however, didn’t last, with the following decades seeing closures amid soaring commercial rents in metropolitan areas and alternative ways for queer people to meet each other, like dating sites and apps.
Shockey said the loss of additional brick-and-mortar spaces dedicated to LGBTQ people, particularly for women, would be tragic.
“There’s nothing like sitting in a safe space that’s controlled by queer people, and having a conversation, dancing, interacting,” she said. “It’s just so valuable, and it’s so liberating, and it’s enabled me to come out and to find a life for myself.”
In the last five years alone, iconic lesbian bars such as Sisters in Philadelphia and The Lexington Club in San Francisco permanently shut their doors. In New York City, at least 11 bars and clubs frequented by lesbians and queer women have shuttered since 2004, including One Last Shag, Meow Mix and Crazy Nanny’s. Bum Bum Bar, which had been the only lesbian bar in Queens, officially closed last year.
While there are only three lesbian bars left in all five boroughs of New York City — arguably considered, along with San Francisco, to be the queer capital of the U.S. — online listings show there are more than 80 venues catering to gay men or mixed-gender LGBTQ crowds in the city.
In America’s heartland, there are few bars that cater to the gay and lesbian community. Walker’s Pint, Milwaukee’s lone lesbian bar and perhaps one of just two left in the entire Midwest, temporarily shuttered in March after Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers ordered nonessential businesses to close. With help from her bank, owner Elizabeth “Bet-z” Boenning said she managed to receive a modest loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program — just enough to cover expenses for about three months. If her bar doesn’t reopen, she said it would be a devastating loss for the local community.
“Women don’t have a place that’s for women other than the Pint, really,” Boenning said, noting that her Milwaukee business is surrounded by several bars that cater to gay men.
In Washington State, only one lesbian bar remains: Wildrose. Owned by Shelley Brothers since 1984, it has managed to survive sky-high rents in Seattle’s gentrified Capitol Hill neighborhood. In mid-March, as COVID-19 swept through the city, Brothers temporarily closed her bar. If she’s unable to reopen, she said it would be more than the loss of a historic watering hole.
“It’s like a bar in a community center,” Brothers said. “We’ve always just tried to provide a safe space for women to come.”Systemic funding issues
Many attribute the loss of lesbian bars to the high cost of opening and maintaining a bar, as well as the systemic difficulty women often have in acquiring financial support.
“If you look at any funding statistics, they always show you that women-owned businesses get even less than male-owned businesses, or that 4 percent of venture capital goes to women,” said Pamela Prince-Eason, president and CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).
The pandemic is likely exacerbating the problem. Millions of small businesses throughout the U.S. have been unable to access assistance through the $2.2 trillion emergency relief package passed by Congress at the end of March. Even before the emergency relief program ran out of money in April, several bar owners interviewed for this story said they were unable to apply for assistance through the online application, which they said routinely froze or crashed, and most of these owners said they lacked relationships with banks that could help them.
While the federal stimulus was meant to help small mom and pop shops, $243.4 million worth of payroll loans went to publicly traded companies, because language in the bill opened the door for many to apply. Within WBENC’s network of more than 16,000 women-owned businesses, less than 1 percent received aid through the first round of stimulus, according to Prince-Eason.
Currently, about 12 million of the 32 million businesses (less than 4 in 10) in the U.S. are owned by women, and the majority of these are small businesses, according to WBENC. Even fewer businesses are owned by LGBTQ people — about 1.4 million, according to theLGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.
If the next round of stimulus leaves out many small businesses again, Prince-Eason said much of the gains made by women-owned businesses — which saw a 58 percent increase over the last decade — are likely to be reversed. “Which is very depressing and demeaning and painful for all people affected,” she said.Online fundraising efforts
As lesbian bar owners nervously await government assistance or the green light to reopen their businesses, and negotiate rent payments with their landlords, many are launching fundraising campaigns to raise money for their overhead costs and their employees.
Boenning — whose Milwaukee pub has been closed since March 17, on what would have been the city’s popular St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl — recently raised $3,695 for her Walker’s Pint staff. “I don’t know what else to do for them,” she said.
Nightlife workers stuck at home — bartenders, barbacks, bouncers and performance artists — whose income depends largely on tips, wonder when they will be able to work again. Many who have been unable to get unemployment through their states’ overwhelmed unemployment systems grapple with an uncertain future.
“One day we’ll feel pretty good, and the next day we’ll feel terrible,” Jo McDaniel, a manager and bartender at A League of Her Own in D.C., said. “It’s a real struggle personally to keep my mental health above water.”
A League of Her Own and its brother bar, Pitchers, both owned by David Perruzza, managed to raise over $8,000 for staff. Neighboring Washington, D.C., lesbian bar, XX+, managed to raise about $4,000 for staff after not receiving government assistance.
“I’m trying to do all the legit things by applying for this, applying for that, and never get any word about when you’re going to get a grant or if you should get a grant,” XX+ owner Lina Nicolai said, “and so it’s very uncertain.”
Cubby Hole, a popular hangout for queer women in Manhattan, raised over $48,000 for staffers after owner Lisa Menichino was unable to retrieve federal aid. Even with tens of thousands raised, she’s not sure she will be able to sustain her bar through the fall without emergency assistance. “It’s been really scary,” said Menichino, whose monthly expenses total more than $10,000. But she is not giving up hope.
“I’m going to find a way to keep this bar open,” she said. “I have to. It’s like an icon. It means so much to so many people. Even if I have to go into my personal finances, I will.”
My Sister’s Room in Atlanta is the only bar that serves lesbian and bisexual women in Georgia, and possibly the entire Southeast. Owners Jen and Jami Maguire are raising money for staff by selling T-shirts online. They applied for emergency aid but haven’t received any. They’re hopeful, but also worried. If the pandemic stretches into October, when Atlanta holds its annual Pride celebration, it would be “very catastrophic,” Jen Maguire said.
“We just want to do what we can to get everybody back to work, but not at the sake of someone losing their life for someone to make some money,” she said. “Safety is number one.”
Many bar owners question how to reopen once the pandemic is over. Typically, people gather in bars whether times are good or bad, Henrietta Hudson’s owner, Lisa Cannistraci, said. Her bar remained open through a number of hard times, including 9/11 and the Great Recession, but she sees this new era of social distancing as an entirely different crisis to navigate.
“The bar business is recession proof — it’s not pandemic proof, though,” Cannistraci, who has raised over $6,000 for her staff, said. Her insurance policy doesn’t cover damage from pandemics, she said. And while she applied early for all the government aid she could, she hasn’t received any assistance.
“I did everything,” she said, “and there’s nothing — crickets.”
With New York City Pride events postponed indefinitely and Ginger’s Bar shuttered until bars and restaurants are allowed to reopen, Frayne is suffering a devastating loss of revenue. For the first time in 20 years, she’s unable to pay rent, and her insurance policy doesn’t cover her pandemic-related losses. She applied for government aid, she said, but hasn’t received any. She worries about her staff, who she said have been unable to file applications through New York City’s paralyzed unemployment system.
“It’s kind of impossible,” said Frayne, who raised over $5,000 for her staff, and is now raising money to save her bar.
So far, Brothers has managed to raise over $36,000 to keep the Wildrose afloat for the time being, but she said it won’t last long. Her annual $30,000 insurance policy doesn’t cover pandemic-related losses, though she said she still has to foot the monthly insurance bill. And her application for emergency aid has gone unanswered. Not knowing the future of Washington state’s last lesbian bar weighs heavy on her.
“It’s minute to minute, basically. It’s up and down. You’ll be all filled with hope, and then it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so horrible,’ and then, ‘OK, we can do this,’ and then ‘Oh, God, this is horrible.’ It just goes back and forth,” Brothers said.‘A stronger economy that includes all of us’
Last week, Frayne returned to Ginger’s Bar to collect the mail that had piled up since she shuttered it in March — mostly bills, she said. Without assistance, she wonders if Brooklyn’s last lesbian bar will ever reopen.
“I mean, after 20 years, do I really want to owe a ton of money with rent and insurance to open a business again?” she said. “I worked too hard; I’m getting too old for it. I don’t know if I can do that again.”
Fighting BackLove in the Time of COVID-19: Pandemic Sex
Wednesday, May 66:00–7:30 p.m.Online forumFree | $5.00 suggested donation
What about sex? The AIDS epidemic transformed the way that members of the LGBTQ community — and indeed people around the globe — discussed and practiced sexual activity. Technology has radically changed the ways that people meet. And now, COVID-19. A panel of sex educators, activists and a historian will consider how we find connection, sex and love in the era of coronavirus, applying lessons learned from HIV/AIDS prevention efforts to help strategize safer-sex options in the present. Some questions to be considered include: What does the pandemic mean for single queers or people in open or polyamorous relationships? What is the future of hookup culture and phone apps? What about bars? How is the pandemic affecting sex workers?
Our “Fighting Back” series is an intergenerational discussion that brings together community leaders, experts, historians and activists to explore lessons from the past that might be useful in formulating “resistance” efforts today. Register online here.
Fighting BackThe Role of Art & Artists in a Pandemic, Part II
Wednesday, May 136:00–7:30 p.m.Online forumFree | $5.00 suggested donation
What about art? This second panel on the role of art and artists in a pandemic continues the discussion of our April 8 event. An intergenerational panel of Bay Area artists and curators will gather to explore ways in which artists responded to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and how these experiences might inform artistic responses to COVID-19 today. Panelists will also discuss the personal and cultural impacts of living through a pandemic, and how these impacts might constrain or inspire the creative process. Register online here.
Author TalkUnruly Desires: American Sailors & Homosexualities
Friday, May 156:00–8:00 p.m.Online forumFree | $5.00 suggested donationIn early nineteenth-century America, the rapid expansion of the maritime industry created an all-male environment where sexual activity was tolerated, and at times even ritualized. The United States Navy adopted rules of conduct based on those of Britain’s Royal Navy, but specifically deleted proscriptions against sodomy and buggery. Drawing on a wide variety of archival resources, including diaries, memoirs, business correspondence, court-martial reports, pornography and religious tracts, author William Beneman’s new book Unruly Desires: American Sailors and Homosexualities in the Age of Sail reconstructs this rare nineteenth-century queer space. Benemann will discuss his research and read selections from the book. Register online here.
Fighting BackHousing Insecurity & Public Health
Wednesday, May 20 6:00–7:30 p.m.Online forumFree | $5.00 suggested donation
What about the homeless? The crisis of homelessness is nothing new in the Bay Area and throughout the U.S., and has paralleled the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with many people with HIV/AIDS also experiencing homelessness. An intergenerational panel of housing advocates, policymakers and historians will discuss how society responded to homelessness in the context of the AIDS epidemic, and how these experiences might inform the response to the COVID-19 homeless crisis. Register online here.
Author TalkAIDS Activism & Writing About Sex
Thursday, May 21 6:00–8:00 p.m.Online forumFree | $5.00 suggested donation
In spite of the attendant stigma, Asian and Pacific Islander AIDS activists in the 1990s brazenly talked about gay sex, even in immigrant communities that were supposedly averse to discussing such topics. In this program, writer Eric C. Wat will discuss how AIDS activism influences his writing, read from his novel SWIM (Permanent Press, 2019), and share his ongoing work on a community memoir about API AIDS activism in Los Angeles. This program is cosponsored by API Equality-Northern California, Kearny Street Workshop and Uncles Social Club. Register online here.
Fighting BackDisease Treatment & Research Activism
Wednesday, May 27 6:00–7:30 p.m.Online forumFree| $5.00 suggested donation
In the 1980s and 1990s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. — and the federal government’s woefully inadequate response — led to a new paradigm of empowerment led by people with HIV/AIDS and supporters. They fought for and won radical improvements to everything from research funding and improved design of clinical research, to early access to investigational therapies, to more equitable treatment-access programs. A panel of activists, policymakers, researchers and historians will examine how the lessons learned from fighting for HIV/AIDS treatment and research might help in the fight against COVID-19. Register online here.
NEW! SCA Streaming : “Every Little Thing” Family Art Activities. Join teacher Cat Kaufman and learn about artist, Pablo Picasso. Use simple materials found around the house to create an easy Surrealist mask for your wall or your head. This project is adaptable to artists of any age that can use scissors. Perfect for home school art class! Lesson #1 Surrealist Picasso Mask.Available to stream April 24 – May 8 (when Lesson #2 in the series willbecome available) Cost $15 . Registration is required to receive access to the video lesson. Cat Kaufman is generously donating her time and expertise to bring these family projects to you.
Favorite Things : Online Art Exhibitnow thru May 31st We had an extraordinary first ever online opening reception last Saturday. What a wonderful opportunity to meet the other artists face-to-face via Zoom and hear each speak about their work. Yes, there are always things to improve, but you overwhelmingly told us that you enjoyed it. Thank you!Rooster By Dennis and Dean, Apple Blossom SchoolEnjoy looking at the variety of art and buy from the comfort of your couch
Documentaries Make House Calls. Streaming May 7 – May 17 Short Films with Filmmaker Conversations from SDFF 2020
This collection of 6 short films from SDFF 2020 has something for every member of the family scrunched together on the couch. All of these stories are in keeping with current circumstances — close to home.
InA Pilgrimage, meet Genevieve Barnhart, a local artist whose iconic sculpture has inspired many ” ‘little women’ to do big things.” We’ll also explore rewilding honeybees,fishing off Bodega Bay, reclaiming a creek full of trash & crawdads, a scamper through memories of a Northern California childhood, and the vulnerable population of our vineyard farmworkers.
Included are conversations with the Directors of Dick Ogg: Fishermanand Eva Rendle, All That Remains. Tickets are $10 for the entire program. Don’t miss out on this wonderful collection.We encourage donations beyond your ticket cost. Consider matching what you might have spent on that medium popcorn plus Milk Duds or Raisinets. Online delivery of films is not free for us.
“Art Spots” with Linda Loveland Reid. A new series of short talks. Bringing you a combination of art history and a bit of scandal! The first lecture about John Singer Sargent was a sold outsuccess! If you missed it, a recording of the lecture will be available soon. Art Spot #2 is coming. Learn about the life of Bay Area Figurative painter David Park. Join us live via Zoom on May 20th 1:30-2:30 pm. Limited to 95 participants.
Sally’s Ark We want to see what you are creating! Email us a photo of your drawings to [email protected] You can still watch the learn to draw Kangaroo lesson and Rabbit lessonvideos.
Just for fun …..check out this source for online classes. Why not learn something new during your time a home?
Like other non-profits, SCA is struggling with financial loss due to cancellation of exhibits and postponement of Open Studios and the Film Festival. Please help if you can. You can make donations and renew memberships online, or mail a check to Sebastopol Center for The Arts, 282 S High Street, Sebastopol CA 95472. THANK YOU!
A queer teacher, who has worked at the same Catholic school for 20 years, has just been sacked for violating the school’s anti-LGBT+ policies.
According to Dayton Daily News, the teacher was a graduate of Alter High School in Ohio, which is controlled by the archdiocese of Cincinnati, and had taught there for two decades.
The principal of the Catholic school, Lourdes Lambert, told the publication that someone had raised a “concern” about the unnamed teacher with the archbishop.
As a result, the teacher will not have his contract renewed, although he will be permitted to finish the school year, teaching children from home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lambert said: “It’s a very unfortunate circumstance for the teacher and the Alter community. Some things are taken out of our hands as an archdiocese-owned school.” However, she admitted: “I’m the archdiocese, too.”
The archdiocese of Cincinnati describes homosexuality as “disordered” and “immoral”, and even provides programmes for LGBT+ people and their families to encourage them to never act on “same-sex attraction”.
Teachers at any Catholic school controlled by the archdiocese are forced to sign a “teacher-minister” contract every year.
The contract states that a teacher must “exemplify Catholic principles in a manner consistent with teacher-minister’s relationship with the Catholic Church and to refrain from any conduct or lifestyle which would reflect discredit on or cause scandal to the school or be in contradiction to Catholic social doctrine or morals.”
Examples of this unacceptable conduct include “cohabitation outside marriage; sexual activity out of wedlock; same-sex sexual activity; use of abortion; use of a surrogate mother; use of in vitro fertilisation or artificial insemination” as well as “promoting” any of these things.
If the contract is breached, “the school immediately may terminate the teacher-minister’s employment”.
Supporters have spoken out about the teacher’s dismissal, branding it “blatant discrimination”.
David Beck, a former student at Alter High School, wrote that the teacher had been fired “for being married to a man”.
He continued: “He’s been married since 2016, one year after marriage equality passed…Supposedly some misguided soul found his marriage certificate and brought it to the attention of the archdiocese.
“How convenient that he is fired now, during the pandemic, as to sweep it so easily under the rug. If these reports are true, this is blatant discrimination, and we need to band together to stop it.”
He said he remembered the teacher as “wonderful, kind, with a sense of humour and a creative spirit”, and added: “He should not be fired for his marriage, which, let us remember, is guaranteed as a human right by the constitution.”
Dozens of activists and advocacy groups have sharply criticized the government of Puerto Rico over its response to the murders of several LGBTQ people on the island.
Pedro Julio Serrano, founder of Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, a Puerto Rican LGBTQ advocacy group, on Wednesday noted during a Zoom press conference that 10 LGBTQ Puerto Ricans have been murdered over the last 15 months. They include Alexa Negrón Luciano, a homeless transgender woman who was killed in Toa Baja on Feb. 24.
Authorities last week found the bodies of Serena Angelique Velázquez and Layla Pelaez, who were both trans women, in a car in Humacao that had been set on fire. Penélope Díaz Ramírez, who was also a trans woman, was killed in a Bayamón jail on April 13.
Kevin Fret, a well-known gay trap artist, was murdered in San Juan’s Santurce neighborhood on Jan. 10, 2019.
“They are hunting us,” said Serrano during the press conference. “They are killing us.”
Natasha Alor, a trans activist in Puerto Rico, said she is “tired of living in fear.” Alor added many trans people in the U.S. commonwealth are afraid to leave their homes.
“It is very said that there are people in this country who are afraid to go out in the street just because of who they are,” said Alor.
The press conference took place hours before the Puerto Rico Police Department announced the arrest of two men in connection with the murders of Velázquez and Pelaez.
Puerto Rico’s hate crimes and nondiscrimination laws include both gender identity and sexual orientation, but prosecutors in the U.S. commonwealth rarely apply them. Serrano and other activists who participated in the press conference have repeatedly said Puerto Rican authorities’ response to anti-LGBTQ hate crimes remains woefully inadequate.
The Broad Committee for the Search for Equity, a coalition of LGBTQ advocacy groups known by the acronym CABE, on Monday demanded a meeting with Puerto Rico Public Safety Director Pedro Janer and Puerto Rico Police Commissioner Henry Escalera. A press release that CABE released after Wednesday’s press conference said activists plan to “demand answers on the status of the investigations (into the LGBTQ Puerto Ricans’ murders), the plan for surveillance and prevention of these crimes, as well as a guarantee that the processes will be carried out in accordance with the protocols and free of prejudice.”
“We are seeking justice for each one of the victims,” said Serrano during the press conference.
Many of the activists who spoke also sharply criticized Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez over her administration’s response to the murders.
Vázquez — a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party — in response to Negrón’s murder urged anyone with information to contact authorities. Vázquez in a tweet also said authorities “will work with the diligence and sensitivity the case merits.”
The governor has not publicly responded to the murders of Velázquez, Pelaez and Díaz. Vázquez has also not commented on the case of Yampi Méndez Arocho, a trans man who was killed in Moca on March 5.
Vázquez last August succeeded then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who resigned after a series of homophobic and misogynistic messages between him and members of his administration became public. Vázquez was Puerto Rico’s justice secretary before she became governor.
“Wanda Vázquez’s silence is deafening,” Serrano told the Washington Blade during Wednesday’s press conference. “Her silence makes her complicit in these murders.”
CABE spokesperson Carmen Milagros Vélez Vega also criticized Vázquez, noting the Puerto Rican government and its institutions have close ties with anti-LGBTQ fundamentalist churches.
“What they have done is promote hatred in this country and they have given people permission to use their hands to kill our brothers and sisters and to terrorize everyone,” added Vélez, referring to the churches.